Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Soft Pumpkin Pretzels!

I've been feeling very pretzel-y.

It seems to have come with this whole Halloween rush, I dunno. Anyway, I wanted to try my hand at pumpkin pretzels, and ya' know--they came out magnificently! I love them much better than the plain wheaty ones I made a few days ago. I just followed the same recipe, but added 1 cup of canned pumpkin puree. I didn't even add extra flour, the dough didn't need it--though it was a tad sticky. It also didn't need additional flour when I rolled them into coils. Can you see the pretty golden hue? And with pumpkin seeds on top and mustard squirts, I am dyin' from the goodness.

In a big bowl dissolve the sugar in 1 1/4 cups warm-to-the-touch water.

Add the yeast and let sit a few minutes until the yeast "blooms."

Stir in the canned pumpkin.

Stir in the flours and salt and mix to form a dough. If the dough seems too dry, add 1 tablespoon of water at a time until it comes together--you should be OK without it.

Hand knead for ten minutes, or five minutes in a mixer with a dough hook.

Put the olive oil in a big bowl and turn the dough around in the oil until the sides of the bowl are oiled and the dough is covered in a light film.

Cover with a towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled about 50 minutes.

Preheat oven to 475F.

In a pot with high sides (the water will foam up once the pretzels are added), bring 8 cups of water to a boil with the baking soda.

Divide the dough into six even pieces. One by one, carefully roll them into a coil that is 19" long and about 3/4-1" thick. Carefully twist each rope into a pretzel shape and pinch the ends of the rope to the body of the pretzel so they stay in place.

Boil three pretzels at a time for one minute, flip over with tongs and boil the second side for another minute.

Place on a Silpat or greased cookie sheet and lightly blot off any foam with a towel.

Quickly sprinkle with seeds and salt so they stick to the moist dough.

Hey Kittee, thanks for stopping by my blog and for your comment. What a coincidence--I went by Rainbow yesterday and for the first time ever found Wildwood yogurt, a big carton of the plain! I haven't had a chance to try it yet, but after reading your comment, I'm planning to dig into it soon. I may have to go buy their entire supply just to make sure they keep stocking it.

Here's another coincidence--I just found your blog yesterday, through your pretzel post at PPK. I've been reading your website for years (especially when looking for restaurants in NO) but didn't know about the blog. I'm so happy to have found it--and the pretzels recipe!

Me again--I'm excited to hear about the Herbivore travel edition. I'm a subscriber, so I'll be looking forward to it in the mail. I can't wait to hear your new restaurant reviews.

If you're ever in Jackson at noon on a Thursday (long shot, I'm sure), try to get to Rainbow's cafe for their special Seaside Cakes. They're vegan "crab" cakes with sides of mashed potatoes and slaw, and they've become sort of a religion in my family. They usually have leftovers in their deli, and we pick them up for dinner almost every Thursday night. They're so good that the restaurant is crowded every Thursday with non-vegans getting their tofu fix. Delicious!

Hey kittee! i really love your blog and all of your recipes. i have been on quite the pmpkin kick (documentation of this pumpkin affair is on my blog), so these pretzels look awesome. Thanks for being such a great vegan role model!

thanks Kittee! I am making them for the staff craft fair for the food co-op I work at, many employees here don't eat wheat or refined sugar so I'm trying to make them with spelt flour and an alternative sweetener.

Honestly, these came out beautiful! I made them for my husband and his friends at the fire department and they left me a saucy message regarding how freakin amazing they are! Coming from guys that eat fast food daily...this was a break through. Thanks Kittee!-Sabrina in Bethlehem

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm those look devine Kittee. Thank you so much foe sharing the recipe.I'll have to convert the recipe and try those (I'm from the UK) I remember the first time I ever saw giant pretzels at a Disney World resort bar, brings back so many lovely memories :)

Soooo I realize this is an old post but I just happen to LOVE these pretzels. I made them a few months ago and I'm ready for my next batch. Question- how did you get them to actually stick together to look like pretzels?? Mine looked like long blobs of dough...tips??

wow, I royally messed these up. :) I live in a rural area and I couldn't find the chapati flour..I also couldn't find pastry flour.. so I ended up using white lily baking flour and whole wheat all purpose.. they didnt seem right at all, lol. I guess thats what I get!

This looks so delicious! :)All the ingredients in it look great-- and good idea to make pretzels with pumpkins seeds! I've been looking around online for these so I can make Soft Pumpkin Pretzels also. :)

Kitte: I will *definitely* be trying this. @Tina- I normally get my Pumpkin Seeds from NutsOnline-- I've looked a fair bit and they seem to consistently have the best prices. Lovely blog and post Kitte-- all looks really tasty! ~Sally